


For Want of a Nail

by Cicerothewriter



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Made families are the best, Pre-Slash, Sex in later chapters, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:48:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27761035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cicerothewriter/pseuds/Cicerothewriter
Summary: Jamie left his beloved Scotland to follow the Doctor.  The Doctor found himself with a companion who seemed to know him from the beginning.  Through adventures and strife they stuck together.  Will this always be the case?  (Spoiler alert: yes)
Relationships: Ben Jackson/Polly Wright, Second Doctor/Jamie McCrimmon
Kudos: 8





	For Want of a Nail

**Author's Note:**

> _For the want of a nail the shoe was lost;  
>  For the want of a shoe the horse was lost;  
> For the want of a horse the battle was lost;  
> For the failure of battle the kingdom was lost;--  
> And all for the want of a horseshoe nail._  
>  Proverb, unknown author.
> 
> So.... I started writing this back in 2010, but ran out of momentum. I started binging my 2nd Doctor DVDs during the pandemic and realized how much I love and need this pairing. Because I started this story in 2010 and I hate new Doctor Who (sorry, friends), I'm sticking to pretty much Classic DW canon... except when I make stuff up. I mean, I haven't seen all of it.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'm still writing this. I've got the beginning and the end written, and I promise not to leave people hanging, but since this is a Work In Progress, please read at your own risk. But I really need/want feedback so I'm posting this first chapter now.
> 
> Also, I have no idea if the title and quote even make sense anymore for this story, but I'm keeping it because I like it. Maybe it's like "The Postman Always Rings Twice" which does not have anything to do with the post office?
> 
> Please enjoy!

At first it was touch that lasted a shade too long or a glance that held. Moments like this proved to the Doctor that Jamie was more than just an enjoyable traveling companion. Sometimes he dared hope that what he felt between them might turn into something more permanent. The Doctor enjoyed meeting people, but he wanted a permanent companion... like most Time Lords. Of course, only he would be so daft as to chose as his permanent companion a young man whose species only lived for a tenth of his own life and who could not regenerate.

The Doctor was not bothered by such trivialities as time and creation. Being a Time Lord meant that such rules could be bent and twisted, even if they could never be broken. What concerned him was whether his affections were reciprocated or not. Sometimes it was difficult to tell with these Earthlings, especially at such periods of history when homosexuality was considered a sin or at the very least a deviant behavior.

But the Doctor had plenty of time, ten more regenerations before his own demise. He could wait patiently for an answer, or rather, as patiently as he could.

Jamie was not sure if he would ever figure out the future, especially life aboard the Tardis. Polly and Ben were both nice to him and willing to show him around, but it was obvious that they had known each other a long time and thus they tended to stick together. Jamie was one of nature’s physically affectionate people, and he felt hurt when Polly flinched away from him or Ben got a bit jealous.

And then there was the Doctor. He was the reason why Jamie joined the Tardis.

Jamie had always known that he was different from other lads. He liked women, and he loved the idea of heroically defending a woman's honor – it is what a McCrimmon did after all – but he did not wish to marry or otherwise become engaged with one. There were ugly words to describe what he felt towards other men, and he let those words influence his life. But then the Doctor arrived with his companions and saved them. The Doctor seemed so free, like an eagle or a hawk, and Jamie was drawn to him from the first moment when he saw the Doctor trying on a Scottish cap. As Jamie drew near, he was not expecting the Doctor to have blue eyes that were so bright and hypnotizing. While the Doctor might not be conventionally handsome, he was very compelling. In truth, Jamie had abandoned the ship for France because he could not bear the thought of never seeing the Doctor again. Just one more look would tide him over, or so he told himself. And his impulsive action led him to a life of adventure and danger more so that he had ever anticipated: trips to Atlantis and the moon, fighting with Cybermen and mind-altering equipment, friendship and laughter and family.

And then there was the Doctor. Jamie was not sure if the Doctor saw him as anything more than a fellow traveler or worse, a liability – the one always getting hurt. He liked to think that the Doctor was considering him more and more as a friend, but he was not sure. Often he cursed his lack of experience. The Doctor did not flinch from his touches, but instead touched back, apparently aware that he needed the physical reassurance as much as the verbal. Sometimes it felt that the Doctor was talking to him rather than talking to Polly and expecting him to listen. Sometimes he would turn to find the Doctor looking at him for no reason that he could see. He wondered…

In the Tardis' kitchen, Jamie discovered a bag of lollipops. "What are these?" he asked Polly, who was munching her way through a pack of prawn-flavored crisps.

"Mmm... lollies!" she exclaimed. "They're candy, Jamie. You take off the wrapper, and put the candy bit in your mouth."

"Aye," Jamie said, a bit confused. "And what do you do with the stick bit?"

"You hold it. That way you can take it out of your mouth, if you want to."

Polly cleared up the matter by abandoning her crisps and then demonstrating how one ate a lollipop.

So it came to pass that both Jamie and Polly were sucking on lollipops when they entered the console room of the Tardis.

"What are you two doing?" the Doctor asked, after he looked at them and then looked again, unable to believe his good fortune as he watched Jamie suck on a lollipop. Jamie's lips really were quite... well... yes.

"Jamie found a bag of lollipops in the kitchen," Polly said. "I've never seen them before, Doctor."

"Hm, yes," the Doctor said, trying not to eye Jamie's mouth too obviously. "Well the Tardis does like to surprise us sometimes."

Jamie pulled the lollipop out of his mouth, and licked his lips before saying, "I've never seen anything like these."

"Yes, well, I don't think that refined sugar had been invented yet," the Doctor said, turning to the scanner so that he did not have to watch Jamie eagerly put the lollipop back into his mouth and suck on it.

Jamie chose that moment to walk over to the Tardis' console, and hover over the Doctor's shoulder. He put a casual hand on the Doctor's shoulder, looking curiously at the readout.

The Doctor hummed at the readout, mainly for something to do so that he did not stare at Jamie or say anything incoherent.

Jamie stood closer, chest pressed just against the Doctor’s back, trying both to see and understand the readout and also using this as an excuse to stand closer.

Polly rolled her eyes, and wished Ben were here to see this. Once she realized that Jamie was harmless and fascinated with the Doctor, she relaxed around him. His crush on the Doctor was sweet, and she wanted to encourage it without making him feel awkward or scaring him away. The Doctor she had less of a read on, but she was pretty sure he felt something similar. The Doctor appears to have none of the issues that a modern Englishman would have for homosexuality, so if he did decline, Jamie would not be in danger.

She watched as they played a bit of “I want to look at him, but I don’t want him to notice that I’m looking at him,” and then said, “Everything all right?”

“What?” the Doctor said. “Oh yes, everything’s fine. The Tardis is scanning the surrounding time and space so that we don’t crash into anything.”

“What’s that?” Jamie asked, pointing with the lollipop before sticking it back into his mouth. A small blue dot blinked as the Tardis scanned.

“Well, uh, it’s a planet,” the Doctor said. He looked at Polly, who smiled at him and nodded pointedly at Jamie. He huffed. “The blue indicates that it’s an uninhabitable planet.”

“Oh aye, so not interesting.”

“Not really, no.” The Doctor turned a little, gently pressing into Jamie as he flipped a couple of switches and turned a dial. This told the Tardis that he was nervous, and looking to do something. He could almost feel her roll her eyes at him.

“Well, nothing to do but wait. She’ll let us know when she’s found something interesting.” He smiled at Jamie, and then at Polly, pointing at her lollipop. “Now, are there any of those left?”


End file.
